Turning Points in History

History is messy, and politics have always been divisive and partisan. For example, do these phrases sound familiar:

· Contested election

· Attempts to sway electors

· Extreme ideologies

· Personal attacks and name-calling

· Deals cut….”in the room where it happened”?

· Biased media

· Explosion of party politics

· Regional divisions

· Challenged legislation

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Over the past two-plus centuries of democratic rule (note: we, Americans, live in a representative republic, not a democracy in its true sense) we have been accustomed to winners and losers.?

And, I would like to think, (I realize this is a stretch) that winners are humble in victory and losers are gracious in defeat. When it comes to elections, we expect an orderly transition of power at the local, state, and federal levels, but things don’t often go according to Hoyle. For example, you might think that the list of familiar phrases that I noted earlier is about politics and elections today, and you would be right. But I was actually referring to the national presidential election of 1800, sometimes called the “Revolution of 1800” by historians. Each side believed that victory by the other would ruin the nation.[1]

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A quick history reminder.? ?George Washington warned against factions (as did Hamilton in Federalist #10) that had started to form in the new government, and which would eventually lead to political parties. The general rule of thumb guiding political thought leading up to the 1800 election was that political parties were dangerous and by their very nature would lead to divisions and discord (he wasn’t wrong).?[2]By the election of 1800, the nation's first two parties were beginning to take shape (the Federalists, whose leaders were John Adams and James Madison) believed that a strong centralized government was needed to build the Nation and to restrain the excesses of popular majorities, and the Democratic-Republicans (led by Thomas Jefferson) who believed that decentralization of federal power was needed to curb the federal governments attack on individual rights (driven largely by the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by Congress in 1798 and the proposed expansion of the Army and Navy driven by the Quasi-War).?

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In modern times we are accustomed to the President or presidential candidates picking their running mate or vice president. That wasn’t the case in the Nation’s early election process. Because the Constitution did not distinguish between President and Vice-President in the votes cast by each state's electors in the Electoral College, both Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr received 73 votes. According to the Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, if two candidates received the same number of electoral votes, the election would be determined by a vote in the House of Representatives.

Each party was convinced that electing the “other” would be the ruin of the country. The Federalists saw Jefferson as the devil incarnate, but because Alexander Hamilton hated Burr (he didn’t work out so well for Hamilton a few years later) and he was able to convince the Federalist Party that Jefferson was the better option. The fear and animosity between the two parties resulted in the House voting 35 times without either candidate receiving a majority. On the 36th vote, the House (the majority of whom were Federalists) elected Jefferson. In 1804, the passage of the 12th Amendment corrected these problems by providing for separate Electoral College votes for President and Vice President. But, here is the point. Despite the contested election, prior to the election of 1800, the Nation had not experienced the need for a graceful transition of power. Despite a close and divisive bitter election, John Adams and the majority Federalists ceded power to the Jeffersonian Republicans. This was a historical turning point and precedent-setting event in the history of the Nation precipitated by men and leaders of character and competence. We had another turning point in 1912. As it turned out, the election of 1912 was a clash of four political titans that broke up the traditional two-party system and brought to the forefront of the political debate America’s exceptionalism and role on the world stage.?Elections are not just about whether a Republican or Democrat wins the general election, but I believe it is about the ultimate direction of our Nation. Choose wisely.?

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[1]?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1800_United_States_presidential_election#:~:text=In%20what%20is%20sometimes%20called,generation%20of%20Democratic%2DRepublican%20leadership. See also,

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/a-nation-divided-the-election-of-1800-thomas-jefferson-foundation-at-monticello/wgURxDCU-6gaJA?hl=en

[2]?https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/1800-election/1800-election.html